In one final forum before election day, the Spruce Grove-St. Albert candidates attempted to draw more distinctions between one another, declaring voters had a clear choice on Monday.
Liberal candidate Chris Austin, Wildrose’s Travis Hughes, NDP candidate J.J. Trudeau and Progressive Conservative Doug Horner squared off a final time at Spruce Grove’s Horizon Stage, in a forum sponsored by the Spruce Grove Chamber and Acheson Business Association.
The debate featured pointed questions from the audience, asking Horner to explain what his party had done, while asking Hughes to explain what his party would do in power.
In his opening statement, Hughes said the PCs’ inability to present a balanced budget with the province’s resource wealth made no sense and they should not be given any more time to do it.
“Our current government can't balance the budget with $100 per barrel oil and that is shameful. Should we wait until the next recession to balance the budget?”
Horner said Hughes’ party was being short-sighted and not focusing on the future of the province. He pointed to the Wildrose plan to cancel the GreenTRIP public transit program as an example where the party wasn’t thinking about the long term.
“We need to continue to build the infrastructure that gets people where they need to go.”
He argued, while the province was running deficits it was not building debt and that the money being spent was building vital projects like the Anthony Henday that would position Alberta for growth.
“Let's not just focus on how much money we have in the mattress, but let's think bigger.”
Trudeau said Alberta needed to better fund its social services and ask a little more from wealthier Albertans.
“Our 10-year experiment with the flat tax has only served to increase inequality.”
She said the province had caved on energy royalties and that a Wildrose government is even less likely to demand a fair share of Alberta’s resource wealth.
“Government's backed down and acquiesced to the demands of big oil.”
Austin said his party’s plan would pave the way for more services in communities like Spruce Grove and St. Albert and end the centralization.
“Aren't you tired of driving into Edmonton for key services?” he asked the crowd.
Hughes defended his party’s plan for education, citing their plan to eliminate school fees and said the party would make it a priority.
“We know that our children are our future and we need to make sure they are getting the education they need.”
He said they would bring more teachers to the classroom and fund new schools.
“We do have a plan to increase teaching capacity and we will be continuing to build new schools.”
But Horner countered that the Wildrose plan for energy dividends could be better invested in schools.
“The Danielle dollars that were announced are about 50 new schools.”
Austin said his party would make education a priority, but would get out of funding private schools and divert the money to the public system.
The Wildrose plan for health care also drew questions, with a nurse in the audience questioning where the Wildrose would find efficiencies.
Hughes insisted the money would be diverted to the front lines of the system and away from management. He assured the crowd the party was not aiming to privatize the system.
“There is so much money going into the bureaucracy,” he said. “The only card you will ever need is your Alberta Health Care card.”
Trudeau questioned whether the Wildrose plan to dismantle Alberta Health Services would actually bring real savings.
“When we dismantle something it takes that much more time and money to reassemble it,” she said. “It makes for a real mess in terms of care for seniors.”
Horner said the Wildrose wait-time guarantee, which would allow Albertans to go elsewhere to get treatment at government expense if wait times here were too long, was not the solution.
“Sending Alberta dollars to Lyle Oberg's hospital in B.C., does not help health care in Alberta.”
Horner alluded to his PC leadership bid last fall and said he ran because he wanted to change how Alberta viewed the world and made its decisions.
“I wanted changes in the way we make decisions in our party so we can make better decisions for Albertans.”
Horner said Premier Alison Redford shared that desire for change, but Austin argued it was absurd to think that a government four decades in office would change.
“If you are willing to give them another 40 years under the leadership of Alison Redford, think again.”
Election day is Monday.
